Horse racing

Marty Wolfson has something better than a slingshot

When it comes to the two leading candidates for Horse of the Year, trainer Marty Wolfson is ready to take on one and eager to confront the other. Somewhere down the road, he’d like to send Icon Project, the sensational winner of Sunday’s Personal Ensign Stakes, up against Zenyatta. And Saturday, he’ll send out It’s A Bird against Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga.

“She’s a very, very good horse,” Wolfson said about Rachel Alexandra, “and she has done some great things. But I’m not convinced yet that she’s a great horse.”
 
That may be hairsplitting, but the comfort of fine distinctions may be one of the few comforts available to those preparing to face Rachel Alexandra, who has won eight consecutive stakes. She has won seven stakes this year by an average margin of more than nine lengths, including a convincing victory in the Haskell over Summer Bird, who returned Saturday to win the Travers. Rachel Alexandra worked an easy half-mile (49.09 seconds, according to New York clockers) this morning in preparation for an attempt to become the first filly ever to win the Woodward, where she’ll meet older males for the first time.

“You’d think she would have to bounce (backwards, with a subpar effort) at some point, at least a little bit,” said Wolfson, who, of course, is a son of Louis Wolfson, whose Harbor View Farm campaigned the indisputably great Affirmed.

And if Rachel Alexandra bounces in the Woodward, if only “a little bit,” Wolfson is counting on It’s A Bird to capitalize. Winner of the Lone Star Park and Oaklawn Handicaps, It’s A Bird gave an uncharacteristically poor effort when seventh in the Suburban at Belmont Park. Wolfson blamed a bad trip for the performance, but said he’s anticipating a good effort Saturday, especially with his regular rider, Julien Leparoux, back in the irons.

“He’ll be stalking,” Wolfson said about It’s A Bird, “and we’ll see what happens.”

When going after a giant, a good horse is better than a slingshot. And Icon Project’s most recent victory, by 13 1/2 lengths in Sunday’s Personal Ensign at Saratoga, was one of the most impressive performances of the year. Moreover, it announced her to be a legitimate contender for championship honors. But, of course, to earn a title she’ll have to beat Zenyatta.

And so Wolfson said he would consider sending Icon Project to Santa Anita for the Lady’s Secret Stakes on Oct. 10. But the Beldame on Oct. 3 at Belmont is a very attractive option, especially since Icon Project won the New York Stakes there by more than 13 lengths. The Spinster on Oct. 11 at Keeneland would seem another possibility.

But the objective is the Breeders’ Cup Ladies’ Classic. And its being run on Santa Anita’s synthetic surface makes planning difficult, Wolfson said. Icon Project has won on turf, she has run very well on dirt and she has dominated in the mud; she seems to run over just about anything. And so will she need experience on a synthetic surface before the Breeders’ Cup?

 
That’s the question Wolfson will be asking himself in the coming weeks. And it’s a troubling question because the difference between dirt and synthetic surfaces isn’t just a fine distinction.

How much further can Rachel go?

No challenger can beat her in the Woodward. Rachel Alexandra, quite simply, is several lengths better than the older horses who are likely to line up against her on Sept. 5 at Saratoga. Asiatic Boy, It’s a Bird, Macho Again, Bullsbay – no, they can’t beat her.

But she can lose. And not just because it’s a horse race and anything can happen, as Mine That Bird reminded everyone on the first Saturday in May and as horses continue to remind us everyday.

No, they can’t beat her in the Woodward. As trainer Kiaran McLaughlin said, nobody wants to run against Rachel Alexandra these days. She’s so talented and intimidating she could scare away older horses from their feed tubs. McLaughlin said he would consider taking Asiatic Boy elsewhere and traveling all the way across the country, to Del Mar for the Pacific Classic, rather than take on Rachel Alexandra in the Woodward.

But she can lose, simply because horses, even great ones, can’t perform in the stratosphere indefinitely. She has been in training all year. She began her campaign in February after only a respite at the end of 2008, when she finished her juvenile season by winning the Golden Rod on Nov. 29 at Churchill.

Early in the year, I saw her in New Orleans, and even then she was training and running like something supernatural. And since then, without taking a backwards step, she has progressed steadily. Her Kentucky Oaks was historic, two weeks later on a track she didn’t particularly like she won the Preakness, then she dazzled in the Mother Goose, and then gave an even better performance in the Haskell, defeating Summer Bird by six lengths.

So when does she reach the summit of her potential, when does she level off, when does she demand a moment of rest to recover from this relentless outpouring of superlative effort? She loves to train and loves to run; but that’s all part of an attitude and an invincible spirit that make her unique. When will her body overrule the attitude and spirit to demand a rest?

The great Personal Ensign, largely because of physical problems, raced only 13 times in a three-year career. In 1988, in a lustrous campaign that ended with her victory over Winning Colors in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff, Personal Ensign had seven races in 6 1/2 months. The great Zenyatta has raced only 12 times in her unbeaten career. Last year, in a memorable championship campaign, she had seven races, taking time off from mid-January until April and never twice racing in the same month.

Horses simply don’t do what Rachel Alexandra has done – that is, they don’t compete from one end of the calendar to the other, at the highest level, while traveling throughout the country. In 1988, Personal Ensign raced at four different racetracks, only one of them outside of the New York-New Jersey area. Last year, Zenyatta raced at four different racetracks, only one of them outside of California. Saratoga will become the seventh racetrack this year to host Rachel Alexandra, who’ll be making her eighth start of the season.

Her campaign could be one of the most impressive the sport has seen since Cigar’s in 1995. Running from January to October, he won all 10 of his starts, at six racetracks. He was able to begin the campaign with a trio of outings at Gulfstream and end it with three at Belmont, and he had a break of 11 weeks along the way, but he performed at a very high level with each and every step around the racetrack. The difference perhaps is that Rachel Alexandra began at high level and steadily has reached higher.

But how much longer can she continue to progress and excel? How much further can she go with this display of superiority? Sam Houston, with James McIngvale as sponsor, has proposed a $1.75 million race in December, the Gallery Furniture Distaff, to bring together Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. But what are the chances that both horses will still be in training in December and still performing up there in the rarefied regions? Almost none.

Given her extensive travel, eight starts could be enough for Rachel Alexandra. If the Woodward is especially demanding, I would expect it to be her final start in 2009. If she again wins impressively and bounces out of the race with her typical enthusiasm, I then would expect her connections to consider one more outing, with the hope that Zenyatta might make an appearance at Belmont Park. But that would have to be the end of Rachel Alexandra's campaign, wouldn't it? Yes, she's special and unique and something of an anachronism, but even she has her limits. We just haven't seen them, and I don't know that we ever will or that we'd even want to. 

 

Rachel to run against history in the Woodward

“She’s so special,” trainer Steve Asmussen said after Rachel Alexandra worked six furlongs in 1:11.84 in the mud at Saratoga this morning, running the final quarter-mile in 23.98 seconds and completing seven furlongs in the gallop-out in 1:25.58, according to New York clockers. “She just worked three-quarters of a mile and came back (to the barn) feeling great and looking as if she had been out to the track just to look around.”

After the workout, Asmussen, accompanied by Barbara Banke, the wife of principal owner Jess Jackson, announced that Rachel Alexandra will make her next start Sept. 5 in the Woodward Stakes at Saratoga. And just for the occasion, Saratoga has increased the purse of the Woodward from $500,000 to $750,000.

The announcement ends two weeks of speculation about where the sensational filly might race next. The announcement should also end the nonsense and absurdity (as in suggesting Rachel didn't run in the Alabama because her connections were afraid of Careless Jewel) tossed out by critics of the filly's owner and by Zenyatta loyalists (as if you can't appreciate both horses), their envy or resentment having fermented into some mind-bending concoction that has blinded them to Rachel Alexandra's accomplishments. Rachel Alexandra and her connections aren't trying to avoid or duck anybody; indeed they're even willing to try something truly historic.

This morning's workout and the Woodward will continue what has become a pattern for Rachel Alexandra. Six days prior to her winning the Haskell on Aug. 2, she worked an easy half-mile at Saratoga, and a week before that she had breezed a solid six furlongs, which was her major preparatory move. Five days prior to her romp in the Mother Goose on June 27, she worked an easy half-mile, and a week before that she had worked a solid six furlongs. So she can be expected to have an easy half-mile workout next Monday in her final preparation for taking on older males, such as Asiatic Boy, It’s A Bird, Bullsbay and Tizway.

Rachel Alexandra’s running in the Woodward is an ambitious move, the like of which is rarely seen these days. In 1988, Winning Colors, an imposing gray Amazon filly from the stable of D. Wayne Lukas, raced four times against “the boys” (winning the Santa Anita and  Kentucky Derbies, finishing third in the Preakness and sixth in the Belmont), but even she didn’t try older males. Granted, that might have meant taking on Alysheba, and Winning Colors concluded the campaign with a heroic runner-up effort behind Personal Ensign in the Breeders’ Cup Distaff; still, Rachel Alexandra’s headfirst plunge into the sport’s deep end may be the most ambitious move in the most ambitious campaign seen in years.

No filly ever has won the Woodward. No 3-year-old has won it since Holy Bull in 1994. The Woodward has changed over the years, moving from Belmont to Saratoga in 2007, its distance changing too, but the quality of the competition has been a constant. Curlin won it last year on his way to being named Horse of the Year. Ghostzapper, Cigar, Skip Away, Affirmed, Seattle Slew, Forego, Kelso and, perhaps most famously, Spectacular Bid in a walkover all won the Woodward on their way to honors and even greatness.

The traditions of the race and of Saratoga were major factors, Asmussen said, in deciding to aim Rachel Alexandra at the Woodward. “It just means so much if you can do it (win a major stakes race) here,” Asmussen said from Saratoga.

The Woodward decision opens the door for Kensei to race Saturday in the Travers Stakes. Kensei, the Jim Dandy Stakes winner, is also trained by Asmussen and owned in partnership by Jackson.

Rachel Alexandra has won eight consecutive stakes, seven this year (by an average margin of more than nine lengths), including the Kentucky Oaks and Preakness, and is the runaway leader in the race to be Horse of the Year.

Busher, the last 3-year-old filly to be Horse of the Year, twice defeated older males in 1945. She won the Arlington Handicap and later the Washington Park Handicap, where she defeated the great Armed, who had entered the race with six victories in his last seven outings and who would later become Horse of the Year himself.

Rachel Alexandra, of course, has romped in all her outings against 3-year-old fillies. No horse in her division – that is, no 3-year-old filly, not even Careless Jewel, who impressively won the recent Alabama Stakes by 11 lengths – is within eight lengths, maybe even 10, of Rachel Alexandra. She has defeated the Kentucky Derby winner (Mine That Bird) and the Belmont winner (Summer Bird); the only competition remaining for her are that giant mare out West, the great Zenyatta, who seems content, quite reasonably, to remain in California, and history. And so Rachel Alexandra is to take on history in the Woodward.  

Jackson responds

Moments ago, a Jess Jackson spokesperson released his comments in response to the proposed meeting with Zenyatta in the Beldame:

“Our strategy has not changed in scheduling Rachel Alexandra’s campaign this year.  We will always take it one race at a time.

“Right now, we are focused on her next start.  I hope to have a decision on that early next week.  After that race, we will need to see how she recovers and then determine her next start.

“I understand the growing excitement around a race that involves these two magnificent athletes competing but both camps need to do what is in the best interest of the horse. And for us, that means waiting until she completes and soundly recovers from her next race before any decisions are made about the Beldame Stakes or any other venue.”

C’mon, Jess Jackson, spare us the clichés – best interest of the horse, one race at a time. Of course you’re taking it one race at a time: Even Rachel Alexandra can’t run two races at a time. And of course you’re going to do what’s best for the horse, especially one that’s a queen. But can’t you just say you’d welcome a meeting with Zenyatta in the Beldame? Are those words impossible to wrap your lips around? Can’t you just say you want this to happen?

Everybody knows that all plans, no matter how seemingly definite, are actually tentative, especially in this game. Nobody will blame you if something goes wrong and the showdown doesn’t come off as planned, but at least plan for it, look forward to it, express some desire for it. C’mon, Jess Jackson, doing what’s best for the horse and what’s best for racing could be the same thing.

They've moved a step closer to the showdown

Belmont Park, thanks to the sponsorship of TVG and Betfair, has increased the purse of the Beldame Stakes on Oct. 3 from $600,000 to $1 million, contingent, of course, on the participation of Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta. The New York Racing Association made the announcement just moments ago.

Will that be enough to bring them together, that and an awareness that this could be the most exciting race of the year and just the sort of headline-grabbing attention the sport needs? Maybe not, but the Beldame makes perfect sense as the site of a showdown.

But Jess Jackson, Rachel Alexandra’s principal owner, recently expressed skepticism about meeting Zenyatta in the Beldame, saying he didn’t want a match race and who else would possibly run against them. From such comments rose the unmistakable odor of an excuse, or at the very least a rationalization. If the Zenyatta connections agree, then it doesn’t matter who else gets into the starting gate, and that’s not Jackson’s problem anyway. It would be Belmont Park’s responsibility, of course, to encourage other fillies and mares into the Beldame. And since the race remains a significant prep for the Breeders’ Cup, that might not be as difficult as Jackson imagines.

Today’s announcement explains in part why Jackson has been so coy about announcing where Rachel Alexandra will run next. On Wednesday he said he was still considering the Travers, the Woodward and the Pennsylvania Derby, which immediately made me think she’ll probably run in the Personal Ensign. If there’s to be a million-dollar showdown in the Beldame, the Personal Ensign makes sense. Enter both the Travers, just for the sake of misdirection, and the Personal Ensign and then wait for word from California. If Zenyatta’s a no-show for the big show, there’s always the Woodward.

This is probably causing Jackson some internal conflict, a dispute between his two immiscible selves, the businessman and the sportsman. JJ the businessman is saying, screaming in fact, “Run in the Pennsylvania Derby. It’s a million-dollar race, and you have to beat Soul Warrior.” The businessman, before hushing, has one further comment, an admonition really, delivered with solemnity: “Whatever you do, don’t run her in the Travers.”

JJ the sportsman, on the other hand, is saying, insisting in fact, “Great horses run at Saratoga, and as a great horse, Rachel deserves the opportunity to race there. Choose any of the three options, it doesn’t matter, but race at Saratoga -- by the way, did you know that no 3-year-old filly ever has won the Woodward? And one more thing: Make that Beldame thing happen.”

Jackson revels in his own celebrity, and he’s probably enjoying all this -- the speculation, the maneuvering, and the chess game of it all. And if he’s prolonging the decision-making process, it could be for a good reason, that being he wants to get it right. Or it could simply mean that he loves the argument and the attention of JJ the businessman and JJ the sportsman, who are equally persuasive. 

We'll know soon if the showdown is on

This changes everything. The first Saturday in October could soon become the most important day of the year in horse racing, and the Beldame the sport’s most anticipated and significant race. And if indeed the New York Racing Association can put on the show everyone wants to see, the show that could take the sport to a mass cultural stage, then everything between now and then becomes prelude, including Rachel Alexandra’s next start. A very meaningful prelude.

NYRA is attempting to put the Rachel Alexandra-Zenyatta showdown together, the Daily Racing Form has reported. With a sponsor stepping forward, the Beldame purse could go from six to seven figures, and clearly the connections for both superstars are considering the possibility, not only because of the financial incentive but, I’m sure, because they’re eager, much to their credit, to do what’s best for racing.

Zenyatta the defending champion, Rachel Alexandra an uncrowned champion, both fillies unbeaten this year – they’re the best stories the sport has to offer, the only stories that can impinge upon the popular awareness. Their meeting, if it could come off, would have blockbuster potential, like Ali-Frazier, Fischer-Spassky, Easy Goer-Sunday Silence. Moreover, with Rachel Alexandra and Zenyatta there’s the added piquancy in knowing that they’ll probably never meet again.

And, as I said back in May, the Beldame is the most attractive place for their coming together, and not just because New York is the country’s media capital. Belmont Park’s 12-furlong oval, where horses don’t have to turn sharply but can instead orbit, should suit the classy Amazon from California perfectly. And since that May suggestion, Rachel Alexandra, something of an Amazon herself, has shown her fondness for Belmont with a romp in the Mother Goose.

The timing could also work perfectly for Zenyatta, leaving her more than a month to return to California to prepare for the Breeders’ Cup.

Could it really happen, this glorious Beldame matching the two most accomplished horses in the country for the first and probably only time? Well, whether the proposal has developed further into a goal could be clear in the next day or so, with the decision on where Rachel Alexandra will make her next start.

The possibilities are Saturday’s Alabama, the Travers on Aug. 29, the Personal Ensign on Aug. 30, the Woodward on Sept. 5 and the Pennsylvania Derby on Sept. 7. The choice could indicate just how realistic the showdown in the Beldame has become because as a prelude to a confrontation with Zenyatta, the Alabama and the Personal Ensign would seem most attractive.

In addition to the Beldame, several factors are going into the decision-making process, including Kensei, the Jim Dandy winner who, like Rachel Alexandra, is trained by Steve Asmussen and owned in partnership by Jess Jackson. Kensei has a chance to become a Grade I winner in the Travers, an opportunity perhaps to put himself in a position to make a run at a championship, and his chances, it’s hardly necessary to point out, would be enhanced by Rachel Alexandra’s absence.

“Where Rachel will run is the question,” Asmussen said, “but Kensei also comes into play. We want to do what’s best for both horses.”

Asmussen said Jackson was traveling to Saratoga today. They will discuss the possibilities and reach a decision soon, possibly tonight or Wednesday. But their decision will be difficult because they’ll have juggle three balls – what’s best for Rachel Alexandra, what’s best for Kensei and what’s best for racing.

With her Haskell victory, which was arguably the best performance of the year, Rachel Alexandra suggested that she’s at her best with five weeks between starts. Asmussen indeed has said he would prefer five weeks for her between races, and if he couldn’t have five he’d probably take six, the spacing that led to her dominating performance in the Mother Goose; and since he and Jackson certainly would want her at her best for any meeting with Zenyatta, that would seem to argue against Rachel’s running in the Woodward and especially the Pennsylvania Derby, which would leave her less than four weeks to prepare for the Beldame.

That’s why the Alabama and the Personal Ensign are so attractive; either would be the perfect prelude to the race of the year. And that’s why this decision could be so meaningful. If Jackson announces Rachel Alexandra will race Saturday in the Alabama or next week in the Personal Ensign, that could mean the showdown with Zenyatta is on.

He's not spoiled; he's prudent

In categorically refusing to send his Rachel Alexandra to the Breeders’ Cup at Santa Anita, Jess Jackson apparently has touched a tender area. Bobbie, responding in this forum, called Jackson’s refusal to run Rachel Alexandra on synthetic surfaces a “lame excuse” and suggested he’s really afraid, despite all the hype, to run her against the great Zenyatta. My friend Ray Paulick recently said Jackson reminds him of a “spoiled kid who didn’t like the way a game was going and decided to take his ball and go home.”

That’s an unfortunate metaphor for several reasons, mostly because it compares Rachel Alexandra to a football, but to take it a step further: If the kid believes his football – his very favorite ball, by the way, a precious ball in fact -- is endangered by the game or by the players, shouldn’t he indeed take it home? And isn’t that prudent, not “spoiled,” behavior?

(I tried repeatedly to respond in this way to a comment on a recent post but encountered technical problems. And so I’m responding with a new post. But I apologize, especially to those of you who had similar problems trying to post a comment. Perhaps we have it corrected now.)

Anyway, if Bobbie and Ray and, no doubt, many others are frustrated by Rachel Alexandra’s eschewal of Santa Anita, it’s only because they care deeply about the sport and would hope to see a successful Breeders’ Cup. I, too, would like to see Rachel Alexandra run in the Breeders’ Cup. Wouldn’t everybody? But it’s not all that simple, and in the end, Jackson’s decision not to run her at Santa Anita appears quite reasonable. Many other owners, I suspect, will probably make a similar decision over the next few months. Their horses won’t be as popular or as famous as Rachel Alexandra, and so they’ll escape the “spoiled kid” metaphor, but they’ll essentially make the very same decision.

Last year, not one horse who had been campaigning on dirt won any of the traditional Breeders’ Cup dirt races. NOT ONE HORSE. All of the “dirt” races were won by horses that had prepped either on turf or synthetics. With that memory fresh, many owners and trainers in the East, I suspect, will decide not to travel with their horses to California for the Breeders’ Cup. And who can blame them?

As I’ve said before, the decision to take the sport’s championship event to Santa Anita in consecutive years was stunningly wrongheaded. If the Breeders’ Cup fails to attract the top horses, don’t blame the top horses. Blame the Breeders’ Cup.

Some have suggested that Rachel Alexandra should go to the Breeders' Cup because, after all, she already has proven herself on a synthetic surface. Well, that was on Keeneland's Polytrack, which is very unlike Santa Anita's Pro-Ride. And she defeated a group of 2-year-olds that probably couldn't have beaten her under any circumstances. In other words, that race means little and certainly doesn't offer sufficient encouragment to try Rachel Alexandra on the unique Santa Anita surface.

 All the attention, or “hype,” that has focused on Rachel Alexandra also apparently has offended some, especially Zenyatta fans, simmering with resentment. Today I was talking about that with Seth Merrow of Equidaily fame on Steve Byk’s “At the Races” radio show. And we all agreed that, if anything, Rachel Alexandra’s fame is understated and that the hype is probably less than she deserves. She’s not a regular cover girl, except for the usual racing magazines; she doesn’t appear frequently on national television. The national media barely have noticed Rachel Alexandra.

Maybe an appearance at Saratoga in the Woodward, where Zenyatta would be welcome, would change all that. And if it does, if the attention goes wild and the hype becomes frantic, all over a superlative filly who’s one of the best of all-time and if neither the attention nor the hype ever veer headlong in the direction of the troubling issues confronting the sport, then, just for those few moments, wouldn’t it be refreshing?

The Haskell won, what's next for Rachel?

As I was saying, with an impressive win in the Haskell, Rachel Alexandra could virtually end the race for Horse of the Year. Consider it done. She put away the Tom Fool winner, Munnings, and then drew away from the Belmont Stakes winner, Summer Bird, to win the Haskell by six lengths, stopping the teletimer at 1:47.21 and, despite the sloppy conditions, missing by about two ticks of the official clock a Monmouth Park record for 1 1/8 miles.

It was arguably the best, and easily the most scintillating, performance this year in North America.

“She’s just unbelievable,” her jockey, Calvin Borel, said afterwards, for the simulcast audience. Glowing as if he had just been basted, Borel said Munnings and Summer Bird were “punching pretty good” through the lively early fractions (46.43 for the opening half-mile and 1:09.92 for six furlongs). After a bobble, Rachel Alexandra had to race three-wide, but in the second turn she displayed her dominating talent, drawing clear and quickly putting the race and the golden Eclipse Award away.

“I think that’s who she is,” said her trainer, Steve Asmussen, by phone, shortly after the Haskell. “I don’t think it was better or worse than her wins in the Kentucky Oaks, the Preakness and the Mother Goose. That’s just who she is, and she’s tremendous.”

To put the performance in perspective, a race earlier, Get Serious, a 5-year-old multiple stakes winner of $312,441, led throughout, with the most perfect of trips, to win the $200,000 Oceanport in 1:43.02 for the 1 1/16 miles. Yes, it was taken off the turf, but Get Serious had proven his affection for an “off” track by running one of the best races of his life to win the Alysheba at The Meadowlands. And Kiss the Kid, who was unbeaten on wet tracks, where he had given two of his best efforts, was a neck back in the Oceanport. In other words, they ran well, but Rachel Alexandra would have beaten those two accomplished veterans by at least 10 lengths. As it was, in the Haskell, with her rivals defeated, she downshifted through the final furlong; still, the result was dazzling. And for those who like to have a number to confirm their observations, this one's in the ritzy neighborhood of 116,

Unbeaten this year, with her earnings for the season at $2.29 million, Rachel Alexandra quite simply has piled her accomplishments so high that they’re virtually beyond reach. Isn’t that the measure for Horse of the Year? She has dominated her division more authoritatively than any other horse in the country, and she has sparkled stepping out of her division: seven stakes wins, a Triple Crown victory, another major stakes against males, record margins of victory in both the Kentucky Oaks and the Mother Goose. She has put herself in the conversation of all-time great fillies.

So what’s next? Could she come back in three weeks in the Alabama? Or four weeks in the Travers?

Asmussen said Rachel Alexandra will leave Monmouth Park very early Monday morning, about 4:30, and travel to Saratoga, where she’ll have some very enticing options. It’ll probably be a couple or even a few weeks, Asmussen said, before a decision is made about her next start.

Many will lobby for the Travers. But her owner, Jess Jackson, and Asmussen already have Kensei for the Travers.

Kensei, of course, won the Jim Dandy on Saturday at Saratoga. That was the start of an incredible and historic weekend. Asmussen won seven races Saturday, including four stakes, most notably the $500,000 Jim Dandy with Kensei and the $750,000 West Virginia Derby with Soul Warrior. And then came the big show, with Rachel Alexandra winning the $1.25 million Haskell.

Anyway, with his Kensei improving and facing an opportunity to become a Grade I winner, would Jackson send Rachel Alexandra to the Travers, especially now that she has already beaten both Birds? Maybe, but the Alabama, which is rife with tradition, is also attractive. Most attractive, perhaps, would be a showdown with Zenyatta in the Personal Ensign, a meeting, of course, that would require the alignment of the stars and the spheres.

And then there’s the crazy option. Crazy because this sort of thing just isn’t done, not anymore and not here. Then again, winning the Kentucky Oaks by 20 was crazy. A filly winning both the Preakness and the Haskell – that’s crazy. And taking on older males in the Woodward would indeed be crazy for just about any 3-year-old filly. But Rachel Alexandra is that good. And she’ll be nominated.